ProtonVPN on Minimal Template - notes

[curious_cat_8P]

Hi,

For info, on the installation / creation of a template based on a Debian12-minimal to install ProtonVPN (pvpn)

Notes on the issues found & their solution, if known.

pop-ups with error messages
the ProtonVPN app sends a Notification about the ‘port forward’ everytime the connection is created/refreshed.

this was resolved with Proton’s support & @den1ed guide, specifically:

@den1ed

3. FIXING freedesktop.notifications.service VPN TEMPLATE

dom0:

qvm-run -u root f40m-vpn ‘geany /usr/share/dbus-1/services/org.freedesktop.Notifications.service’

when geany prompts copy and paste the text below then save the file and shutdown the template.

[D-BUS Service]
Name=org.freedesktop.Notifications
Exec=/usr/libexec/notification-daemon

Potential Network Leaks
In the unlike event that pvpn’s kill switch fails (for any reason).

@solene provides a safe-guard

@solene

You can add this in your sys-vpn qube to the file /rw/config/qubes-firewall-user-script, this will block all traffic that doesn’t belong to the VPN. Let’s say it’s a kill switch at Qubes OS level, even if the App doesn’t work correctly, the kill switch will be always enabled.

# Prevent the qube to forward traffic outside of the VPN
nft add rule qubes custom-forward oifname eth0 counter drop
nft add rule ip6 qubes custom-forward oifname eth0 counter drop

I hope this helps.

[queboss]

Thanks for posting